Garlic Butter Roast Chicken

This is one of the juiciest and yummiest roast chickens you’ll ever eat, we promise. And there are so many ways you can serve this. For example with a side of roast potatoes or roast veggies, or with mashed potatoes and greens. The leftovers are great for fried rices, sandwiches and pastas too.

Serves: 6

Ingredients:

• 1 medium butternut squash
• 2 tomatoes
• 1 head garlic
• 1 small onion
• 2 ½ tbsp. butter
• 2 tbsp. mixed dried herbs
• 1.2 kg whole chicken
• 1 tsp. salt (or to taste)
• ½ tsp. ground black pepper (or to taste)
• 1 tbsp. olive oil

Instructions:

1. Peel and cut the butternut squash into chunks. Ours were about 1 ½ inches wide and 2 inches long. Cut the tomatoes into quarters. Cut the onion into quarters too. Set them aside.
2. Mince 3 garlic cloves and then mix with the butter and a tablespoon of dried herbs. Set aside.
3. Use a clean pair of scissors to trim off the excess fat around the neck area and cavity of the chicken. Using a knife, make a gash on every chicken leg. (Remember to dry your chicken thoroughly after defrosting.)
4. Wash your hands thoroughly and then gently slide your finger between the skin and the chicken breasts, loosening up the filaments that hold the skin to the flesh. Do this with the gashes you made on the legs too; use your finger to create space between the thighs and the skin. Place the chicken on your roasting tray, breast side up.
5. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.
6. Take a third of your garlic butter mixture and insert it into the spaces between the breasts and the skin. Try to spread it in there evenly. Then take another third of your garlic butter and insert that into the space between the skin and the legs. Rub the rest all over the exterior of the chicken.
7. Rub salt and pepper all over the chicken; get some inside the cavity too. Sprinkle salt on to the butternut squash and tomatoes too and add those to the roasting tray, arranging them in a single layer around the chicken. We used around a teaspoon of salt for the whole thing. When you are arranging the veggies, place 4 cloves of garlic with them too; no need to peel them.
8. Add the olive oil and rub it well all over the chicken and the veggies. Sprinkle a tablespoon of dried mixed herbs over everything.
9. Stuff the chicken cavity with the onion and the remaining garlic cloves (once again, just put them in there, no need to peel them).
10. Place the tray inside the preheated oven and bake until the chicken is cooked through and the chicken skin is golden brown. We baked our chicken for an hour, took it out, flipped it along with the veggies, put it back in and baked it for another 35 minutes.
11. Let the chicken rest for at least 15 minutes before cutting into it.